This piece highlights some wonderful ways librarians can implement and work with wireless, but we still nee to serve the patrons who rely on us for basic computer access. Keeping software on public access machine current, given hefty licensing fees, pricey upgrades, and pervasive patches and updates, can be an expensiv hassle. We’re all under pressure to provide more services for less money. Here, find some free and lowcos alternatives that are both easy to install and popular with patrons

You don’t have to switch all your computers to Linux or be a geek to use free software. You can also combine free and commercial software on the same machines. All of these options run on Windows machines or Linux, most on Macs, and most will run well on older versions of Windows and older hardware .